1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to automotive safety restraint systems and in particular to an adjustable self-standing seat belt buckle mount.
2. Prior Art
In the front seat of automotive vehicles with bucket type seats, the inboard seat belt buckle end is traditionally mounted and held essentially in a rigid up-standing position. When the seat has a considerable fore and aft range of adjustment, the routing of the lap belt over the occupant is compromised. Carried to the extreme, the resultant restraint capabilities are less than desirable. With the seat in its rearmost position, the lap portion of the seat belt could lay across the occupant's thighs. Therefore in a crash condition, the occupant is allowed to slide forward before the seat belt webbing becomes taut placing the occupant closer to interior elements of the vehicle during peak crash forces with higher than necessary loads imposed on the occupant due to natural belt system elongation. With the seat in its forwardmost position, the lap web may ride up into the viscera area which is a poor location to absorb the crash forces.
Various types of self-standing seat belt buckle mounts are known in the art. Ebert in U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,862 and Sharp in U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,293 disclose seat belt buckle mounts rigidly attached to floor mounts. These mounts are unsatisfactory because the position of the mount changes with changes in the position of the seat. Alternatively Graham in U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,832 discloses a spring loaded buckle mount attached to the seat which is returned to the vertical position when the seat belt is unbuckled. This arrangement places the crash load on the seat itself requiring an increase in the structural rigidity of the seat mounting to withstand crash loads. Rothschild in U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,401 discloses a self-standing electromagnetically actuated seat belt system having an angled housing attached to the vehicle's seat. Fohl in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,068 discloses an adjustable self-standing seat belt buckle mount attached to a structural member of the vehicle, which like the buckle mount disclosed by Graham is spring loaded to return it to an upright position when the seat belt is unbuckled. Tamamushi in U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,087 discloses an adjustable self-standing buckle mount having a guide member and a bushing member interposed between a semi-rigid upstanding member and a rigid support member attached to the vehicle's seat. A spring washer external to the upstanding member provides a frictional force permitting the upstanding member to be retained at a convenient position for use.